County: Kilkenny Site name: KILKENNY: 78 High Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 96E0109
Author: Ronan Swan, for Project Director Valerie J. Keeley
Site type: Building
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 650534m, N 655937m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.652274, -7.253142
Archaeological investigation took place for a period of two weeks commencing on 24 April. The investigation was conducted on behalf of St Canice's Credit Union, prior to improvements at their premises at 78 High Street, as this site is located within the confines of the medieval town precinct. Cartographic evidence has shown that there has been extensive alteration to the rear of the site over the past hundred years.
The renovations to the existing premises include the insertion of a lift, the strengthening of floors to the front of the building, and the building of an extension to the rear.
It was decided to manually dig three cuttings, two to the front of the building and one to the rear. All cuttings were excavated to below the formation level. The first cutting was located in the area of the proposed lift shaft. The stratigraphy shows that the earliest deposits are of medieval date; these are overlain by two later drains, which are in turn overlain by modern concrete. The evidence for a medieval date comes from three sherds of pottery, one of which seems to be a French import. These were recovered from the layers immediately above the natural deposits.
The second cuffing was also located to the front of the building. The stratigraphy within this section shows that the area has been extensively backfilled in modern times. Two rough stone and brick wall features were identified overlying a substantial stone wall, which appears to have been the original foundation wall for the present building. This wall would appear to be post-medieval in date because of the amount of brick present in each course. The backfilling would seem to have taken place during the twentieth century, given the date of the artefacts recovered. The developer undertook to protect this wall.
The third cuffing was excavated to the rear of the building. The stratigraphy showed three distinct periods of construction, the initial one being the laying of a flag floor over natural deposits. Subsequently the cellar was backfilled, after which the area appears to have been left open for a period of time, allowing the accumulation of soil. This area was then concreted over and altered on at least two occasions within the past twenty to thirty years.
During the course of subsequent monitoring no archaeological material was encountered which would prohibit development.
746 Howth Rd. Raheny, Dublin 5
